Zenn Diagram

We rated this book:

$17.95

This math nerd girl keeps her hands to herself. Because if she touches a person for a long period of time she can read their thoughts and see colors, patterns, and images about their lives. “When I touch people or their stuff, that’s what my visions are like: patterns that go on forever, engraved, etched, carved so deep they can’t be erased.” The secondary character, Zenn, is a math student who she tutors. Eva is captivated by him instantly: “His voice is like gravy. Like…melted peanut butter.”

Although the story genre is science fiction, it has realistic undertones that make the reader forget the story couldn’t actually happen. The story comes together in a masterful weave of bits that divulge layers of past and present. All of this keeps the reader intrigued and engaged with more than just the woes and heartbreaks of a teenage love.

The inaugural novel Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brandt depicts the complexity of this girl’s ability without confusing the reader. My favorite aspect of the story was the creative news article at the end that served as the epilogue. I truly look forward to more works by this author.

Set in the 2070’s, where gardening is against the law and everyone eats processed food in the US, Clare and Dante are now safe in gardening-friendly Canada. There, they stay with the Woods while taking classes from the ‘Garden Guardians’. They wonder if they’ll ever return to the United States as planned. Meanwhile, their best friend Lily Gardener sets out on a dangerous journey to find her father, James Gardener, a man who, before Lily was born, was put in jail for writing publicly against gardening restrictions. Along the way, she discovers that her father has escaped from the jail in Cuba. She must find Seed Savers – a group of people who illegally save seeds to plant, to help her find her dad while avoiding GRIM, the government agency that watches over gardening.

I would like this book more if I had read the first two books in the series. Although reading the previous books is not necessary, it would make the book clearer. I would recommend this book for people who like books about the future; though I would also recommend that you read the first two books in the series.

Here By Mistake: The Secret of the Niche is a slow read all of the way through, and I am puzzled that as a teenager, Stephen’s parents would forbid him to go in his aunt’s basement to even look around. There was just a lack of reasoning provided by the author. I understand it supposedly holds “more than the vault at the Rollings Savings Bank,” but if the stuff were really down there, wouldn’t one of his aunt’s children have locked the valuables away, rather than just behind a locked door to prevent theft?

The characters are easy to like, though you don’t really get to know their true selves. I kept waiting for a climax, up until the end, but it just never came, which was shocking. The majority of the book is merely conversation.

I am torn about this book. I really wanted it to be this action-packed history meets time travel story, but it wasn’t. Id hope this is a prequel to set the story for future books. I would probably suggest to others to just check it out from the library.

I really wanted to love this book. It had everything that appeals to me in a book, but fell short. In the second chapter when author Darynda Jones explains that instead of Jared taking Lorelei sooner rather than later, he instead revives her, I felt I was missing a major part of the story as if this was just another walk in the park to not really be noticed or lacking importance. I actually had to reread the page several times to make sure that I had read it right and didn’t miss something. Wouldn’t breaking one of the laws be huge and to not even give a reason right then and there or add some depth to the story? I would find myself pages later still asking myself why this major event seemed so unimportant.

This doesn’t mean the book wasn’t readable. The story moves at a good pace and the characters are very likable with a nice balance of normalcy. Some areas of the story felt forced and some seemed like she wasn’t writing a YA novel at all. BDSM. Really? Overall, I would suggest saving your money and getting this one on loan from the library.

Jet’s mother’s dying wish was to have Jet travel to Japan and protect some mysterious secret. When Jet arrives, her grandfather and her ten-year-old cousin are there to welcome her, but her grandfather dies soon after Jet’s arrival. After the initial shock has worn off, Jet and her cousin travel to Tokyo to visit their monk uncle. On the way, Jet realizes she is being followed by a cute and mysterious man who was sent to assassinate her but Jet has strong feelings for him and he seems to have the same feelings for her. Jet must take up the legacy of female ninjas that her mother has left to her if she is to save the people she loves and protect the mysterious treasure she knows nothing about.

Jet was an interesting character but their seemed to be random points of teenage angst that didn’t seem to fit with her character, and there were several other minor points that detracted from the overall story. My favorite parts were definitely when Jet was using Ninja skills, but these were too few.

While I haven’t been the biggest fan of the books in this series, I was won over by the novella Neferet’s Curse so when I got my hands on this book, which is also about Neferet, I was eager to continue the journey of her story. Again we find her life in utter turmoil with death looming, a dire fight in the midst and an ending, well, the ending just never happens leaving the book open to yet another book in this series. This book, like the title, reveals Neferet’s past giving a bit more info into her world laying out her story and all of its darkness. Then there is Zoey who now has to deal with her return.

I just can’t help but feel that the Cast’s are trying to relate and write like teenagers, but it is done poorly and the overuse of the F word makes teens look like we are all awful, foul mouthed, wildlings. It is just too extreme and almost offensive. However, I really like Neferet and most of the problems can be overlooked because of her. I am on the fence about buying this book. Maybe just grab a copy from the library first.